Rocket Punch

Well you did say this thread was worthless without pics. 388032[/snapback] right, but just not THOSE pics... 388035[/snapback] C'mon, admit it. You love those vans.

The French police have switched from using Meganes to WRXs because the Meganes aren't fast enough. Story here.

So the only purpose of this thread is to post pics that you can find on engrish.com itself anyways? Well, I suppose it is a good way for people to pad their number of posts. Hmmm, maybe I'll start a somethingawful.com thread...

Really, she's not.

This thread should be renamed "The www.engrish.com thread!" seeing as most of the pics are just taken from there. Does anyone have any photos of engrish that they've taken themselves?

Really? I might have to check this out. I'd really be interested in seeing what they've done with the Beastie Boys albums. They're like demi-gods over there.

Well you did say this thread was worthless without pics.

I'm pretty sure that's what the Polish were thinking right up until September 1, 1939. Replace BigWest with Germany, of course.

Oh yeah. Anne Suzuki = HAWT

GR: In Hong Kong, you always see the same 12 or so actors over and over. Is that good or bad? AL: There are not 12, there are 40-something! Sometimes I like it. In Hong Kong, if I have a good script, I just call someone and ask. Here, when we're casting every day, it makes me sick. GR: What about directing? How does your style fly in the U.S.? AL: My system is very simple. My system is, they have to listen to me. There's so much talking. I'll say, "Shut up, everybody. Don't talk, just do it." Today, we did 20 shoots in half an hour, and the camera crew was shocked. They were so happy. Usuall it's one shot in two hours, and people get sick of it. GR: Do they actors all know about your work? AL: They know about me. Richard Gere... GR: He likes Asian stuff. He hangs out with the Dalai Lama! AL: Yes! Yes! GR: Have you gotten a lot of interest from American film companies? AL: American scripts are always action. I say, "F*ck that." But this time they gave me a drama. GR: So you weren't going to direct Jean-Claude Van Damme? AL: John Woo, Tsui Hark, and Ringo Lam - f*ck, I don't want that! GR: Do you ever worry about burning out or getting sick of filmmaking? AM: We're not worried about that. When we get sick of it, we'll retire. We'll walk away. GR: Some directors start to suck but still make movies. AL: I'm not that kind. If we're happy with a project, we do it. If we're not happy, we walk away. GR: Do your movies have messages for the audience? AL: Every movie does. We're always aware of that. GR: What did Initial D say? AL: It's about growing up. AM: There's a very good line, "How fast is one second?" For different people, time is different. For care racers, one second is a very long time. GR: How about the Young and Dangerous gangster movies? AL: The message is simple: Bad people always die. GR: But good people die in those movies, too. AL: Sometimes, yes. But the bad guys always die.

GR: When you shoot, do you work crazy hours and eat crummy food? AL: No, no, no. Why? In Hong Kong, so many direstors don't like people eathing. I make sure we have lunch and dinner on time. It's the same food for everybody. So everybody's fat. Alan used to be a good-looking guy. Sorry! GR: Can you describe the division of labor when you two co-direct a move? AM: We don't choose. He's the big boss. AL: He does so many things for me that I don't want to do. Like preparation, he's go-go-go. GR: How did you two start working together? AM: In 1992, I was the assistant director and he was the photographer of The Wicked City, a science fiction movie produced by Tsui Hark. GR: Is it more fun working in a team than alone? AM: Not more fun, but directing movies can be quite lonely. You have to decide everything. If you have a partner, you have someone to discuss things with. GR: Alan, didn't you act in a few movie, too? Did you want to act? AM: Yes, but after becoming an A.D., I didn't want to anymore. I like being behind the camera and organizing things. GR: You didn't want to be famous and have girls throw themselves at you? AM: That's so easy in the industry. AL: There are so many chicks who will say, "Oh, you're a cameraman," or "Oh, you're a director." We just say, "F*ck off." GR: Can you describe your relationship with actors? AL: Our relationship must be good. If we don't like the actors, why make the movie? AM: It will become a disaster. GR: There must be so many egos. AL: That's why I always like eathing. It can solve so many problems. GR: Are there actors who tell you, "This is my vision"? AL: I say, "F*ck you!" That's it for Anthony Wong, Andy Lau, nd everybody. They know I'm good and we respect each other, so we don't play games. AM: He has a basic instinct to direct. GR: Do you ever hurt actors' feelings? AL: Sometimes, but we don't make actors' movies. They're Andrew Lau and Alan Mak movies. It's simple. I'm the producer and I'm the director, so they listen to us, right? "I give you money, okay, so why do you say anything?" GR: Actors are just tools? AL: Actors are just toys. You put them here, you put them there. GR: If you really like yourself, you become an actor. If you really like movies, you become a director. AL: That's very true. And some popel who like control become directors. Like me - I like control. I like power. I started as an assistant camerman, and I knew one day I would be a director. GR: Did you go to filmmaking school? AL: No, just high school. I had to learn from cameramen, directors, and others. AM: I graduated from a performing arts school, where I acted. GR: So you're good at relating to actors? AM: Yes, the motivation and all that. GR: Do you ever think, "I can act better than that guy"? AM: No, no, no! GR: Alan, what is it like working with Andrew compared to other directors? AM: No comparison. AL: I'm some kind of animal. GR: Do you have time to do anything besides produce and direct? AL: There's no time for my wife or my children. Directing is my life, and this is my golden period. I finish one movie and start another one. I always have five projects going on. I'm like an alcoholic. GR: Whate are you working on now? AL: It's called The Flock, and it stars Richard Gere and Claire Danes. This movie is very dark. In America, there are so many sex offenders, and people must be aware of the situation. GR: Does that affect your mood at all? AL: A movie is a movie, but sometimes it gets in your mind. GR: Do you still enjoy watching movies? AL: Of course! today, I saw Richard's first movie, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and Romeo + Juliet. I loved them! Also, old Clint Eastwood movies. GR: Do you two get invited to many film festivals? AL: Honestly, I don't like them. They're a waste of time. Festivals make me sick because you spend five minutes here and five minutes there. It's awful. But Cannes is good for me because I can see movies and eat. AM: I like to go to Cannes because therey's some good food. Los Angeles and San Francisco ahve some good food, too. GR: There are a lot of pan-Asian movies now. Are you interested in collaborations with Thais, Koreans, and others? AL: In the old days, it was just Hollywood and Hong Kong, but those good old days are dead. because of the market in Asia, you have to do that. The market is so big with Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Korea. The language is different, but in the end, it's just movies. I go see them because they're movies. They are a special language that goes everywhere. GR: Are you concerned at all about the Infernal Affairs remake in Hollywood? AL: I'm not worried about it. Martin Scorcese makes good movies, and the actors are good. GR: What if they f*ck up the story or something? AL: Everybody has different tastes. Hong Kong people don't like certain things that American people may love. Whatever makes them happy. GR: For the Infernal Affairs trilogy, was it hard to stay focused for all three films? AM: No, it only took 18 months for all three. GR: What do you think about the DVD with all three Infernal Affairs movies edited chronologically? AM: You got that? Is it better? AL: It's not our work. It's just the distributors trying to get a lot more money. we even got a lawyer to try to stop them, so it's not our fault. Someone else did it. Please don't watch it.

Still haven't watched it. I'll just wait until a friend picks it up and save myself a few bucks. Anyways here's an interview of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak by GR. Enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the '80s, John Woo created a gangster movie craze in Hong Kong with the super-stylized and ultra-bloody A Better Tomorrow melodramas. In the '90s, it was all about Andrew Lau's Young and Dangerous. The up-and-coming director replaced the slick-haired businessmen with youths sporting leather, tattoos, and asymmetrical haircuts. The first installment established Lau as a force to be reckoned with and spawned a number of sequels, spin-offs, and rip-offs. Box-office success allowed him to produce and direct the CG-heavy martial arts fantasy The Storm Riders. Lau formed an alliance with fellow Hong Kong director Alan Mak, and together they directed the Infernal Affairs trilogy, which elicited critical acclaim and commercial success. The big-budget, high-tension movies starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung earned accolades around the world, and a remake by Martin Scorcese is in the works. Lau and Mak's latest hit is an adaptation of the popular manga and anime series Inital D. GR presented the film at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles, and Mak was on hand to introduce the film. We hung out during the screening, and Lau sat in for a drink and couldn't help but enter the fray. GR: Why did you agree to direct Intial D? AM: Initial Dis very popular in Asia: Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand... GR: But do you like it? AM: I like it. The first time I saw the cartoon was 10 years ago, but I didn't think I could make it as a movie. Drifting is very difficult to capture on film. GR: What made you change your mind? AL: Money! AM: For the past 10 years, I thought an Initial D movie was impossible. But the budget was the first thing that changed our minds. After the investors gave us a bunch of money, saftey was the next most important thing - not only for the actors but for the stuntmen and crew as well. GR: How did you prepare for the move? AL: It was very different than Hong Kong style. In Hong Kong, you prepare for a month. For this one, we prepared for three months. GR: I liked how the story remained in Japan, but everyone spoke Cantonese. Was that controversial? Were there a lot of Initial D otaku on your back when you were making the film? AL: There are Japanese people who think it's the national treasure. It has fans around the world. But even the original writer didn't complain that we only kept certain elements. Before shooting, we wanted to visit him, but he couldn't see us. We didn't see him once! GR: How did the established actors like Anthony Wong or Kenny Bee mix with the younger actors? AL: Anthony is a true actor. The others, they only have three or four years of acting experience. For this movie, it was easy for them to act in a story about young people. It's a simple story with simple characters. GR: How was Jay Chou in his first acting role? AL: He was good. The first time I saw him in Taiwan, we met for about an hour. Jay didn't talk, and I was worried about that. Then he came to Hong Kong, and we decided that he was just like the character. After the meeting, I decided he was the one. GR: Didn't you wonder, "Is he just shy or stupid?" AL: It was very simple: He is the best singer in Asia. Also, at the meeting, he knew everything about the character. He prepared. GR: Everyone says how epic Infernal Affairs was, but Initial D is epic, too, with all those driving effects. AL: You can say that Initial D is epic, but in my mind, it's just commercial. It's box office. And even though I didn't use a big star like Andy Lau, it's like a Hong Kong movie from a long time ago. It has a very simple structure: romance, a guy who's a genius but doesn't know it, the father's and son's love, and a chase. And the racing is like fighting. GR: Are there ever conflicts between what you think is commercial and what is good? AL: There is no conflict. For example, we are aware that trendy movies will need trendy music. Originally, we had instrumental Eurobeat music like the original cartoons, but we thought it was too old fashioned. It's a young people's movie. We wanted something new, like rap. So we asked Jay Chou to put tracks together, and the music was good. It worked. We both believe that there are more people who are going to see a movie than me, you, and your wife. GR: Intial D was based on a comic, and so was the Young and Dangerous series. Are you a comic book reader? AL: So was Feel 100 Percent! When I was young, I hand no TV - only comics. I still go to the comics shop and ask which one is the most popular. GR: As a comics fan, do you draw your own storyboards? AL: I ask someone to do it. We made a 3-D mountain road on a computer so I could see every angle. GR: With all the computer work and shooting in Japan, the production of Initial D must have been pretty difficult. AL: It was the most difficult movie of my life. It was not easy. Japanese people are very nice but very stubborn. People say Japan is so clean, so modern, and that sor of stuff, but when you go work there, it's like 15 years ago. AM: In Japan, people are very polite, but making a movie is very impolite.

I say the next series should be set druing SWI (TV series, not DYRL) but from a Meltrandi's (who is not Millia) point of view. I mean everyone digs hot giant women, right? And we'd get to see more Q-Rau action.

My experience with Brain Powered is similar to Veritas's. I bought the first volume on VHS back in '98 due to a positive review I read online. Plus the series was scored by Yoko Kanno, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. I checked out after the second episode. Like everyone has said, it's VERY confusing. I'd like to think I'm a patient guy but if you don't have me by the second episode, you don't have me.

Damn Sol, you're posting vids like a madman today!

Hmmm. A few more Coronas and that girl would look a lot like Mari-sama.

In retrospect I suppose finding someone 6'6" is a bit of a stretch but there really shouldn't be a problem with finding someone at least 6'. Like I said before, perhaps a Russian-unknown. Russian girls can get pretty tall I think, and they definitely are quite tasty.

I regret not picking up the Urusei Yatsura LD set Animego put out waaaay back when.

So are LDs finally dead in Japan? I remember they were still pretty popular back in '98-'99, but then around that time I stopped paying attention.